The latest Google doodle to adorn the ubiquitous search engine’s home page celebrates the International Labor Day (May Day) as a way of paying homage to the workers of the world.
Amongst other things, Friday, May 1, 2015 International Labor Day will be a public holiday in many countries, but not all – in the US Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday of September.
International Labor Day is traditionally celebrated with speeches, parades and rallies.
The International Labor Day is a public holiday in India. Fittingly, in India, the first Labour Day (May 1, 1923) was celebrated down South in Chennai by the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan.
While the Google doodle celebrations pay respects to the workers of the world, the single most important tragedy that put the whole issue front and centre of the then ongoing owners and employees tussle for basic rights goes back all the way to May 4, 1886, in Chicago, where an explosion, the case was known as the Haymarket Massacre) killed 7 policemen – in all 11 people died.
However, as with all things freedom in that day and age, it was France (it created and shipped to the US the icon of freedom, the Statue of Liberty – it was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, a French sculptor, and dedicated on October 28, 1886) and that took the next step to draw attention to the workers’ plight worldwide and created an international day to mark the Haymarket killings. The day they picked was the beginning of the month, May 1, rather than the actual day of murders.
The fight was about restricting the working day to a limited number of hours, rather than the backbreaking long-drawn out toil and drudgery that most owners forced their employees to go through. It eventually forced governments to recognise the eight-hour day as the limit – the then current thought was – to divide the day into three and dedicate each to provide the best opportunities for people to contribute their best and recover from the effort expanded at work – eight hours for work, a similar amount of time for recreation, and of course same for sleep.
The Socialist and Communist movements, including the labour unions, played the biggest role in getting the workers their rights.
Google doodle has reminded everyone of the significance of the International Labor Day by showcasing traditional implements used by the workers such as the clamp, heavy duty glove, the wrench, nuts, insulating tape and the tape measure.
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